Liberia's Taylor found guilty of war crimes

NEW YORK TIMES

May 30, 2012Updated: May 30, 2012 10:11pm

Photo: TOUSSAINT KLUITERS

Liberian ex-president Charles Taylor, accused of arming Sierra Leone's rebels who paid him in "blood diamonds", listens to the judge at the opening of the sentencing judgement hearing at the court in Leidschendam, near The Hague, on 30 May 2012. Former Liberian president Charles Taylor will be sentenced for war crimes by a UN court on May 30, 2012 after being convicted for arming Sierra Leone rebels in return for "blood diamonds". Special Court for Sierra Leone judge Richard Lussick will deliver the ruling at a hearing due to start at 0900 GMT, the first sentence against a former head of state at an international court since the Nazi trials at Nuremberg in 1946. AFP PHOTO ANP / POOL/ TOUSSAINT KLUITERSTOUSSAINT KLUITERS/AFP/GettyImages

Liberian ex-president Charles Taylor, accused of arming Sierra...

LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands - Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia and a once-powerful warlord, was sentenced Wednesday to 50 years in prison over his role in atrocities committed in Sierra Leone during in the 1990s.

The judge presiding over the sentencing in an international criminal court near The Hague said Taylor had been found guilty of "aiding and abetting, as well as planning, some of the most heinous and brutal crimes recorded in human history" and that the lengthy prison term underscored his position at the top of government.

"Leadership must be carried out by example by the prosecution of crimes, not the commission of crimes," judge Richard Lussick, said.

Prosecutors had sought an even longer sentence of 80 years. If carried out, the term decided Wednesday would likely mean Taylor, 64, will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

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His legal team said it would file an appeal. The prosecution said it was considering its own appeal, both to lengthen the sentence and to broaden the responsibility attributed to Taylor for crimes committed under his leadership. Taylor was accused or fomenting mass brutality that included murder, rape, the use of child soldiers, the mutilation of thousands of civilians, and the mining of diamonds to pay for guns and ammunition.